On April 1, Solana-based decentralized perpetuals protocol Drift Protocol suffered a major security breach. The team issued an urgent statement confirming abnormal activity on the protocol, stressing that “this is not an April Fools joke” and advising users to refrain from depositing funds.
Official Statement: Confirm Anomaly, Do Not Deposit
To address mounting panic and rumors, Drift Protocol’s official social media account released an emergency notice clarifying the incident was no prank. The statement read:
“We have observed anomalous activity on the protocol. We are currently investigating. Please do not deposit funds into the protocol while we investigate. This is not an April Fools joke. Please exercise caution until further notice. We will provide updates through this account.”
Losses Up to $270M, Hacker Rushes to Buy ETH
As on-chain data emerged, the scale of the attack proved far larger than initial estimates. Analytics firm Lookonchain reported on April 2 that total losses were estimated at $220 million to $270 million. Most stolen assets were funneled to a Solana address beginning with “HkGz4K”.
The hacker then executed a rapid laundering operation: bridging part of the funds to Ethereum and aggressively buying ETH, accumulating 19,913 ETH worth approximately $42.6 million so far. The attacker also swapped some SOL for ETH on decentralized platform Hyperliquid and sent a portion directly to centralized exchange Binance.
Stolen Asset Breakdown: USDC and SOL Hit Hardest
On-chain security tracker onchainschool.pro detailed the stolen assets. Stablecoins and Solana native tokens suffered the heaviest losses: USDC $103 million, SOL $54 million, WBTC $19 million, WETH $12 million, cbBTC $11 million, USDT $6 million, USDS $5 million, SYRUPUSDC $3 million, and JLP $2 million.
As of press time, Drift Protocol has not disclosed the attack vector, and investigation continues. On-chain data shows the hacker still actively moving assets, with ETH purchases ongoing. The incident has reignited concerns over security within Solana’s DeFi ecosystem, triggering price volatility in related tokens.